Coleman Launches Appeal

Norm Coleman is just not giving up: As expected, he’s appealing last week’s ruling awarding Democrat Al Franken Minnesota’s long unresolved U.S. Senate election. The Republican incumbent’s appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court, says Franken lawyer Marc Elias, represents “the death throes of the Coleman legal effort.” Last week, judges shot down Coleman’s plea that thousands more absentee ballots be counted; instead, they counted 351 ballots and declared Franken winner of the election by 312 votes. The appeal could tie up Franken and Coleman in legal proceedings for two or more months while the Senate seat remains empty. But that’s not stopping Franken: He’s already hired his first Senate staffer.